Graphic details of attacks on media in Kazakhstan described by Russian foreign ministry as it blasts OSCE’s inaction
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has shown “shameful” lack of reaction to targeted persecution of journalists in Kazakhstan, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said, relating disturbing reports.
Violent riots in Kazakhstan have seen devastating attacks on the media by apparently well-prepared thugs, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement criticized the OSCE for what she said was an underwhelming response to apparently “targeted” attacks. The OSCE, which has a special Representative on Freedom of the Media who monitors issues ranging from press freedom to the safety of journalists, has demonstrated a “shameful” and “disgraceful” lack of interest in the fate of journalists in Kazakhstan in the wake of this week’s violent attacks on a number of media offices there, Zakharova wrote.
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The OSCE member states are spending “millions of dollars” on the organization’s funding, yet a series of major incidents have gone completely unnoticed by the international body, Zakharova pointed out.
She said that the OSCE’s media freedom representative, Teresa Ribeiro, only expressed concerns and sympathies in just two Twitter posts, and this after an employee of a local TV station was killed by gunfire in the city of Almaty by unidentified men, while a son of a local media editor was threatened with firearms.
“Does a journalist need to die for Mrs Ribeiro to go as far as to post a tweet?” Zakharova asked, as she accused the OSCE of failing to fulfill its obligations.
